Triathlon or Eco-X

On April 7th, 3 races were scheduled concurrently, Eco-Xtreme at Kuala Kubu Baharu, A-Famosa Triathlon and Sabah Adventure Challenge. Since this year I’m targeting for no or limited outstation race, Sabah Challenge is definitely out of my calendar. However, choosing between a triathlon and an adventure race is a tough decision for me. For a week, I’ve posted advertisements looking for a teammate but to no avail until Friday, the last day to register as an early bird team. Zun was looking for a teammate since Fariz is on duty for F1 Sepang. Since we have raced together in several races, we agreed to team up and form possibly the only Wasabi team in the race. So, no blind date this race for me, which means I’m going to skip the first triathlon race in the 2007 calendar which is very close to my new home base. I’m counting for Eco-Xtreme becoz (1) the race is longer, (2) it might be the only race organized by Nomad this year (3) my swim sucks!! My swimming form dropped miserably since moving to S.Alam. Other triathlon races are out of town, Bukit Merah, Kenyir and Miri before returning to PD and finally the Desaru Long Distance.

This partnership is good since we don’t have to search out gears for rookies anymore. Zun is mentally very strong and level headed which complemented my hot n cold personality with advantage in technical section. The only missing in this partnership is completion of any race within the cutoff time. Several times, we were hampered by congestion at technical section. This time, according to Wye Yim, the competitors’ relation in charge at Nomad Adventure, the race organizer, the technical section will be very deep in the race, so all the team will be separated when approaching it. I hope it works. As usual, we will try to separate ourselves from the rest of “the trying teams” by being strong in MTB section.

Today, I’m getting myself Minoura MAG850 cycling trainer. This is substitute to my outdoor rides made impossible around Shah Alam after works, potential replacement at True Fitness club membership and another candidate is the unreliable stationary bike at my apartment’s gym. Shah Alam’s traffic is too heavy after 6pm and even during weekends. True Fitness membership is astronomically expensive for a guy who is only interested in RPM class (besides the attractive sight seeing) while my gym’s bike breakdown too often. The only issue is lacking the remote control for the flywheel resistance making the ride a bit monotonous. The good thing is, I can get use to my own bike and its saddle n setup which will emulates my race posture.

So, back to my schedule, to become Ironman before reaching 30? My ultimate aim for this year is to complete Desaru Long Distance Triathlon (equivalent to S’pore 70.3, 1.9km swim, 90km cycling and 21.1km running) within the cut off time. Then I’ll think whether to signup for IM Langkawi 08. It’s not cheap becoz early bird registration up till June already cost RM500. Logistics no included. Time is running up coz LIEM was awarded to organize IM Langkawi up to 2009 only. I’m not that optimistic it’ll be extended coz majority of endurance sports competitors are either local expat or foreigners.